12/22 in the belly of the fish
world cup finals, old movies, a spiritual reckoning, and goals for the new year
Better late than never I always say, though this is excusable only because the subscribers to this newsletter do not pay for content. December was a great month for me, thank God, and I hope January follows suit. The first three days of it have been great, no complaints there, and I am praying that 2023 is a blast. Prime number year (not, but you get what I mean) so prime time memories God willing.
December 2022 Highlights:
Saw the Nutcracker ballet for the first time ever. It was beautiful and reminded me why I love ballet.
Witnessed Messi finally win the World Cup. It’s been almost a decade since my obsession with the footballer (let’s use proper terms, shall we) reached its end, but it was glorious on so many levels to see my childhood-crush-slash-teenage-love carry Argentina to victory and defeat France (the hell nation).
Celebrated Hanukkah at my house with Rachel and Gozde (my best friends who seem to be getting along better with each other than me at this point).
Participated in a reading retreat in Ocean City, MD, fed the seagulls, realized I am my own worst enemy, and reached my Goodreads reading goal of 45 books for the year. 😅
Not much online reading this month since I was scrambling to finish my GR goal and had thirty other things happening at any moment but here are some things I enjoyed visually.
Wednesday (2022, dir. Tim Burton) — Jenna Ortega is superb in the first season of what I hope will be a longer series following the life of Wednesday Addams from Addams Family.
The Prestige (2006, dir. Christopher Nolan) — I know it’s weird to recommend movies from like 17 years ago but if you haven’t seen this, you should. After watching this movie, I realized I really like Nolan movies. He’s so serious about what he does. I admire that.
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) — Wes Anderson palate cleanser for the year end. Who can say no to that?
CODA (2021, dir. Sian Heder) — Worth every penny of my Apple TV+ subscription.
This online Clock app which, by way of its design, made me immediately think about “building block of the universe.” Time is a created being, just like you and me! I love the visuals here, the instants are simultaneously being constructed and deconstructed. That is how existence continues (or appears to continue to us). What a miracle it is, to simply exist, even for a second.
This video essay on why Jackie Chan action comedy movies (especially the Hong Kong ones) are so good and how they compare to movies like that of Marvel.
The body of a weak and feeble woman? by Victoria Smith — Smith is right. As she most often is. There are physical differences between men and women and some feminists (and male feminist allies) think that female physical weakness is a scam or the result of social conditioning. Exceptions make the norm, how can this be so hard to understand?
This 30-second yogurt commercial that feels like it should become a feature-length animated movie. So beautiful.
For the new year, I have a lot of goals for myself. But I am being told to be more private about my life (boo!) so I will just say “stay tuned” because I might open a new section on this Substack for reflections/essays etc. I think you’ll have to re-subscribe or something, not sure. Or I will merge this with my actual blog and revive that. I must.
This world is our whale. Let it help us see with the eye of certainty, as it did Jonah. Until then, happy 2023!
🐋 🌎
Wait, what was the spiritual reckoning, at the reading retreat ?